Revolution at D.C. United, 7.20.11

I rarely get excited by the play of a goalkeeper, but Matt Reis was magnificent yesterday. He bailed out the Revolution time and again in their 1-0 victory over D.C. United.

Though there were other candidates, Reis’s best save of the night probably came in the 82^nd minute, with his team holding on to a rare late-game lead. The United’s Andy Najar sailed a perfect ball in to Dwayne De Rosario, who was having a splendid match himself. De Rosario had nearly scored at least a couple of times earlier in the game, and now it looked as though he wouldn’t be denied. He settled Najar’s pass with a deft downward knifing trap. The ball bent to his will and he got off a characteristically quick, hard shot. Reis then seemed to morph into that other, more renowned Boston goalie—Tim Thomas—and kick-saved the shot into the outside of the netting. The crowd thought D.C. had scored and sent up a cheer, but De Rosario knew immediately that he’d missed. He clenched his fists in front of him in controlled frustration and looked down at Reis as if to say, you have got to be kidding me! Indeed, against almost any other keeper, and maybe even against Reis on any other night, that shot would have gone in.

The Revolution deserved this win, which is in itself almost as remarkable as the fact that they broke their nine-game winless streak. True, New England did look shaky in the first half, particularly on defense, and were exceedingly lucky to come out of it with a 0-0 score. D.C. controlled that period and created many excellent opportunities but failed to actually score, and that state of affairs usually spells doom for a soccer team. (Just ask the players on the U.S. women’s national team.)

D.C.’s best opportunity of the night came when Pat Phelan handled a ball in the penalty box. It was one of those inadvertent handballs that nevertheless must be called, since Phelan unthinkingly raised his arms when defending a cross. Charlie Davies stepped in to take the penalty kick and, delightfully for Revolution fans, his attempt sailed over the crossbar.

Could that missed PK signal a turning point in the Revolution’s currently dismal season? It would be folly to say so after their recent performances, and after continuing their trend of losing the possession battle. (They held the ball for only 39% of the game against D.C.) But this was the first time in what feels like (and may actually be) months that I felt something like hope while watching the Revolution. In the second half, New England actually looked pretty good. Let me repeat that: New England actually looked pretty good in the second half. Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally came on as substitutes (for Zak Boggs and Zack Schilawski, respectively) and added some speed and life to the offense. The defense tightened up, even though Darrius Barnes had to fill in at center back for Ryan Cochrane, who came off injured in the 22^nd minute. After getting barraged in the first half, and leaving runners wide open, the Revolution limited the United to only a few shots on goal in the second. And at the end of the game, the Revolution seemed to be the fresher team, another pleasant surprise. The announcers frequently mentioned the sweltering heat on the field, and I would have thought that those conditions, and the fairly raucous D.C. crowd, would have greatly favored the home team but that wasn’t the case.

While D.C. isn’t the best team in the east, they aren’t a terrible team either. De Rosario looked really good against the Revolution, and I have to wonder if New York is kicking themselves for the Dax McCarty trade. D.C. also has a good young goalkeeper in Bill Hamid and a good young center back in Brandon McDonald. Combine those players with Najar, Davies, Josh Wolff, and Chris Pontius (not to mention the injured Branko Boskovic), and you have the makings of a respectable MLS side. It’s also an improving team that was fighting for a playoff spot at home.

So the Revolution can take heart from this performance and look to build confidence and (dare we say it?) string together some wins. Let’s also hope they continue to use a 4-3-3 formation, as they did today. The key to this formation—really the key to any formation used by New England—is captain Shalrie Joseph. It was great to have him back in the lineup after the suspension. True, he very occasionally loses balls at midfield these days, and sometimes isn’t shy about making ridiculously dangerous passes back to defenders and his goalie in traffic (remember the pass to Didier Domi against Chivas? he made a similar pass back to Reis today), but he’s clearly the player around which the whole team revolves. His teammates all look to work the ball through him, as they should. Against D.C., he was working hard until the end as usual, nearly springing Nyassi for a game-clinching goal in the 86^th minute with a beauty of a through ball. Unfortunately, Hamid broke up the play and eventually collected the ball.

This may be way off base, but I wonder sometimes if Joseph’s eventual successor at midfield might be rookie Stephen McCarthy. I’m not putting McCarthy on a level with Joseph, but both are big and have games that can look unspectacular but are actually deceptively strong and effective. Sometimes Joseph looks like he’s running at half speed, and then you realize that he’s beaten his man and has headed in a goal, or that he’s shed his defender and is making a killer pass up the sideline, his ponytail flapping. As for McCarthy, I’ve noticed that he looks to hold the ball and make short passes in favor of the long ball, and this team needs a whole lot more of that kind of thing. Against D.C., he also happened to head in the game’s only goal, which came off a Chris Tierney corner kick. (The last time the Revolution actually scored in the run of play was over a month ago, but let’s not dwell on that now.) McCarthy’s header was textbook—he ran towards the ball and snapped it down to the ground and just inside the far post. The Revolution could use a whole lot more of that kind of thing too.